Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-10-28
A WOMAN SPEAKS TO SPARKS
a vigorous and Breezy Letter to
commissioner Sparks From a
Citizen of Dakota.

commissioner Sparks From a
Citizen of Dakota.
SCOTLAND, Oct. 2l.-Special to The
journal: Some time ago settler about
Sixty miles above Yankton made proof
on ms presumption claim, on which he
nad lVed for over three years. In due
tlme ne received notice that he must
make new proof, as the original proof
was made one day later than the date in
the published notice Of intention. His
Vile, who had worked hard all these
years to help secure the home, wrote to
commissioner Sparks in August last,
explaining the case. and few days ago
received reply stating that the new
proof must be made. Her letter to the
commissioner is as follows:
60, Dakota, Aug. IL, 1SS7.-Mr.
Sparks commissioner Of public lands,
Washington, D. c.: Sir-We received
a notice from you to-day stating that
we would be obligedto make final proof
OF our claim over again, which is the
south half of the southwest quarter of
section "a, township IS, range 81.
l cannot tell you what this will cost
US If there is no other alternative.
When we came to Dakota, the 9th day
OF March, 1881, we had just ten cents.
My husband got work right away and
commenced looking for land to make
us home. In April he found this
eighty acres lying vacant; all the 9TH
er land for miles was taken up; he i'm
mediately filed a presumption on it,
builta small house and we moved on
to it, where and our little boy stayed
all summer, my husband coming home
every Saturday night and going back
to work again Monday morning. In
this way we managed to stay on our
land and get the required amount Of
breaking done and other necessary i'm
provements made, and enough to live
on through the winter. The next year
we farmed it and lived there continual
ly until the 9Th of May, 1887. My hus-
band found piece of land cornering
ours that he could buy, and paid $500
(three hundred dollars) for the relin-
quishment of it and filed a homestead
on it. We moved our house from our
presumption and are now living on our
homestead. The way the mistake of
one day came to be in our proof was
partly owing to a terrible blizzard as
| we lived sixty miles from the Yankton
land Office, where our proof was taken
in January. When they got to Scot
land, thirty miles of the way, the storm
was so bad they were obliged to leave
the team and take the cars. This was
the 18th Of January. When they got
to the land Office at Yankton they found
they had failed to bring an affidavit
from the publisher who had printed
the final proof notice, so they telegraph
ed back to Scotland to have it sent,
and the snow was so bad the train did
not get to Yankton until too late to do
anything that day, the Nth, so my hus-
band made his proof the next day, Jam
uary 18th and all Of our neighbors
know that we have lived on our land
continually and in good faith for the
purpose Of having home until we got
the homestead we live on now. How
can we live on this and prove up again
on the eighty acre pre-emption? Must
we lose our homestead right and the
$500 we paid forit or the pre- emption?
God knows we have lived up to the law
in every respect. Pardon me if have
overtaXed your patience, but | cannot
help explaining this to you. Sir, If you
could realize how hard it is to make a
living for Il poor man here you would
not obllge us to readvertiZe and make
a new proof, all of which Will cost us
$50 or $40, and that means over a hun
dred bushels Of wheat at present prices.
1t does seem to me one dag could make
no difference in the proof. We can ca
silly prove to your satisfaction that
there was no one to contest our right
to do so. We willanXiously await your
reply. Yours truly,